DNA Testing has confirmed a Y-DNA direct line connection to
Peter Helton and
James Helton of Randolph County GA
1830/Washington County GA 1820. We are now trying to identify brothers
and Uncles (Aunts) of Peter Helton.

At the end of the 1700's and during the Early 1800's, Georgia was primarily colonized along the eastern border with South Carolina along the Savannah River basin. Settlers had moved out from Savannah and South Carolina and there were only a limited number of Georgia Counties.

The Creek and Cherokee owned much of the land of present day Georgia as they had for thousands of years. Our
Southwest Georgia Farm in Randolph County Georgia still produces a treasure trove of Indian artifacts after every hard rain.

As you can see from the maps to the left, Georgia began to subdivide Counties within existing area in 1800. Washington County was subdivided into Montgomery and Jefferson Counties.

Seven times between 1805 and 1832 Georgia used a lottery system to distribute the land taken from the Cherokee or Creek Indians. These lotteries were unique to the state; no other state used a lottery system to distribute land. Lot size varied widely, even in the individual lotteries. The largest lots distributed were 490 acres in the 1805 and the 1820 land lottery. The smallest lots were the 40-acre gold lots distributed during the Gold Lottery of 1832. 75% of the current land mass of Georgia was distributed to private owners through this lottery system.

During this period (prior to 1840) there are very few census records of Helton's (sometimes spelled Hilton) in Georgia. While a complete indexing of census records for many Counties has not been completed, Helton's began to show up in Georgia Census Records in Habersham County and Washington County in 1820. Since there are so few Helton's listed, the number of Helton family lines is very limited and the possibility of these lines being related increases in probability.

Abraham Helton (over 45 years old) and James Hilton (Age 26-45) both showed up in 1820 Census records for Habersham County (Northeast Georgia-found along the North Carolina/South Carolina border). During this same 1820 census for Washington County, James Hilton (Age 45-50) and Abraham Hilton (Age 16-26) have been identified. The ages of the Habersham and Washington County Hilton's are flipped, which could be significant. We will know if the name similarities are significant until DNA Testing of these family lines is performed.

Old family naming patterns suggest these two groups of Hilton's could be related since the names and ages are flipped and identical. Since the Habersham 1820 Census only gives us an "over 45" age for Abraham, and Abraham cannot be found on another census to fine tune the age, we do not know whether he was much older than 45 or near the age of 45. We assume (from records) that he had a daughter and son that were under the age of 10 living in the household, as well as a daughter that was 26-45 (born 1775-1796) and a wife that was over 45. If Abraham was approximately 50, he could be the brother of James Helton (Washington County). If the oldest daughter was on the higher end of the 26-45 age range, Abraham could be James Helton's father and this would explain why James Helton's (Washington County) oldest son was named Abraham (Old naming pattern). However, it was highly unusual for Abraham to have an unmarried daughter at home who was over 26 during this period. Since daughters were married off quickly to relieve the burden (that sounds sexist, but Women's Lib had not begun to take hold in Georgia in 1820), it is possible that the two daughters (under 10) belonged to the oldest daughter--there was a War in 1812 and the daughter (who could have been born in 1775) was also a sister of James Helton's (Washington County-born 1770-1775)

Habersham County was created in 1818, two years before the 1820 census, so there will be no Census Records available for Habersham, prior to the 1820 Census. Since all available (indexed) Georgia census records have been checked through 1850 for all Counties, it may be necessary to check South Carolina records for a listing of Helton's (Hilton's). It was very odd that no Hilton's (Helton's) showed up in any index for Savannah. This could indicate that early Georgia Helton's moved from South Carolina or North Carolina.

Other Helton's in 1820-1850 Georgia Census'

There were a few other Helton's who popped up in Census data for 1820 in Georgia. These could be different Helton Lines or descendants of existing lines. they are as follows. You can find access to this information by following this link and going to the appropriate county, Census year, and page # text file cited below. Until Helton DNA Testing has been performed, these are just names in a Census index.

1 Male over 45 (Abraham was born in 1743-he would have been 77 years old)

1 Female 0-10

1 Female 16-26

1 Female over 45 (Katie Owl)

Abraham Helton won land at Spring Place (Near Chatsworth, GA-Dalton GA) in the 1832 Georgia Gold Lottery and moved with his wife Katie Owl to Lumpkin County GA where they died in 1843. Katie was full-blooded Cherokee.

I have our line showing ?Jacob Helton of? Fields Military District, Habersham County,? son of John Helton? son of Abraham Helton winning the 1832 Gold Lottery in Spring Place near Dalton lottery 3-9-53 (L Griffin)

We have discovered that there were indeed two Hilton or Helton families out of NC. Our Peter Hilton was in the Rev. War. b. 1752 and most certainly Native American. He joined the Rev. War in Surrey CO. NC and then was found in Burke CO. 1800-1820. McMinn CO. TN in 1830. Filed for Rev. War Pension in 1837 McMinn co and then married and moved to Carroll CO GA. Some say he was 105 when he died.